Easton's Beach building demolition gets pushback. Why it won't be stopped.

It is time to say goodbye to the snack bar and carousel buildings on Easton’s Beach.

The Newport City Council has decided on the vendor to demolish the heavily deteriorated buildings, which will be completed this summer.

“This issue is the canary in the coal mine for the resiliency challenges facing this community,” Mayor Xay Khamsyvoravong said at the council’s meeting on Wednesday. “We are making an unfortunate decision this evening, but I hope that it is the start of us being much more proactive in decisions we make in the future to ensure that not only are we protecting critical infrastructure in this community, but that we continue to provide the amenities that make this such a special place and so that we don’t need to go through the type of painful ordeal this community has been through on this particular issue.”

The city has been grappling with the deteriorated state of two of the buildings on Easton’s Beach since spring 2021 when DBVW Architects completed a 45-page report on the conditions of the beach pavilions. The report revealed the snack bar and carousel buildings had structural deficiencies that, while reparable, were so significant that both the architecture firm and the city questioned whether the immense cost to repair the buildings was worth it.

In the end, the city concluded the snack bar and carousel buildings were unsalvageable. In 2022, DBVW Architects put together a planning study report for the city to better understand what could replace these buildings, but discussions quickly developed over the issues of climate resiliency and whether building anything permanent on the beach was a good financial and environmental decision for the city.

As of now, the city does not have plans in place to replace the snack bar and carousel building, however, the City Council did vote to go ahead with the demolition process this summer by hiring Johnston-based A..A. Wrecking and Asbestos Abatement Co. for $834,414 to remove and dispose of the two structures and store the carousel in an offsite location.

This is the same company that has been handling the demolition of The Bells at Brenton Point State Park for the RI Department of Environmental Management. The dilapidated former carriage house was slated for demolition after the roof had collapsed under the weight of a child who trespassed onto the property with a group of other kids, leading to several severe injuries.

When Councilor David Carlin questioned why the beach buildings needed to be demolished during the summer rather than waiting for the off-season, Councilor Jeanne Marie Napolitano referenced The Bells incident.

“All we need is someone climbing up there like the three kids did over at the Bells and have some sort of accident,” Napolitano said. “I’m not going to wait for that to happen. I think they’re doing the best job they can.”

Carlin was the sole vote in opposition to the demolition contract. In addition to believing the decision to demolish the buildings was rushed, he argued the city should have a replacement plan for the buildings before they demolish them.

Several members of the public came forward to speak against the demolition, including Barry Botelho, who owned Easton’s Beach Snack Bar since 1999. He has argued the buildings were able to be repaired ever since the city decided not to renew his business’s concessions contract for 2024.

“That building generates $70,000 a year for the city coffers and with the snack bar and how popular it is, it generates a lot of traffic for the parking lot, probably increased it by a third, so demolishing the snack bar and saying we do not have the money to support it for another two years is not a valid argument,” Botehlo said.

Botelho also argued this would take jobs away from the beach, as he hires several people to work the concession stand each year. The city currently has a Request for Proposals that seeks one vendor to arrange for several food trucks or carts to provide concessions during the 2024 season. Originally, the RFP required the vendor to obtain a Mobile Food Establishment license from the city that was specifically for Easton’s Beach only and required that current businesses that own MFEs would have to forfeit their license for an Easton’s Beach only one, but struck that requirement in a later addendum. An additional addendum explained that the city is unsure how they want to handle licensing for this concept.

At the meeting, Botelho pointed out that only one business in Newport has the ability to coordinate several food trucks and carts that all have MFE licenses. While he did not mention the business by name, Audrain Hospitality owns four of the six food truck licenses available in the city. The company was one of eight vendors listed on a mandatory sign-in sheet for an on-site proposer meeting held March 7.

During discussion, Carlin also questioned whether the city had been adequately funding the maintenance of these buildings over the years that could have prevented this from happening, placing the blame on the city and City Council over the years. While the city has made capital improvements on the buildings over the years as a part of its Capital Improvement Plan, Napolitano said the city might have been able to set aside the money for repairs if they had the ‘pay-and-display’ parking program when the city still had a standalone Easton’s Beach fund as it did years ago.

Interim City Manager Laura Sitrin explained that the decision to fold the expenses for Easton’s Beach into the General Fund was that the beach was not self-sustaining financially. The 2012-13 budget, which is the first fiscal year for this change, justifies the decision but saying it would provide sustainability to the beach operations and eliminate the need to subsidize the funds from the parking fund.

This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Easton's Beach building demolition approved by Newport City Council